NFL Changes To "Smart Football"

The NFL is doing something that is pretty cool for the inside of its football. They have added a lightweight, quarter-sized sensor that will measure game data as things happen throughout the game. It will rest just under the ball's laces, capturing things like distance, acceleration, and velocity. Computers on the sideline get the results in just half a second.

So far the sensors have been used in the preseason and there is no word as to whether or not they will continue during all games.

During the games, all 32 franchises and the NFL itself collects on-field data from the players; most keep it at practice as well. Some of the other data they have to sift through includes sales, fan statistics, and the mobile apps.

The point is that they need to know every detail so that they can make money, according to Recode.

Zebra Technologies uses a tracking chip in their shoulder pads so that they could track location, speed, and distance traveled.

Both of these chips are basically like small GPS receivers. They use Radio Frequency Identification, known as RFID, to send out the data. Interestingly enough, CBS and NBC gets a lot of the information as well. Much of the information hasn't been released until after the season was over, but in a change, they will know within a day of the game's end this year.